Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-05-04

Then her eyes fell upon bough Of the glori-
Gus Towering bush under which she lay. 1t
was not moro than four feet above her head,
but she was so still and motionless that q
jeweled honeysucker came and lowered over
the flowers, darting from one to another like
q many colored fash. Thence her glance
Travelled to the great column Of powders that
lowered up above her and that seemed to say,
n am very old. have seen many springs
and many winters, and have looked down on
many sleeping maids, and where are they
nowa All dcad-all dead, and an old baboon
in the rocks with startling suddenness barked
out @all dead" in answer.
And Us she lay and heard, her youthful
blood, drawn by natures magnetic force, as
the moon draws the tide, rose In her veins
like the sap in the budding trees, and stirred
her virginia. serenity All the bodily natural
part OF her caught the tones OF natures happy
voice that bade her break her bands, live and
love, and be O woman. And 10! the spirit
within her answered to it and flung wide her
bosom's doors, and of sudden, as it were,
something quickened and lived in her heart
that was of her and yet had its own life-a
life apart; something that sprang from her
and another and that would always be with
her now and could never die; and she rose
pale and trembling, as woman trembles at
the first stirring Of the child that she shall
bear, and clung to the flowery bough Of the
beautiful bush above and then sank down
again, feeling tho spirit OF her girlhood had
departed from her, and that another angel
had entered there; knew that she loved with
heart and soul and body, and was very
woman.
She had called to Love as the wretched call
to Deuth, and Love had come in his strength
and possessed her utterly; and now for lit
tie while sho was afraid to pass into the
shadow Of lis wings, as the wretched who
call to Death fear him when they feel icy
fingers. But the fear passed, and the great
Joy and the new consciousness Of power Of
identity that the inspiration Of true passion
gives to some strong, deep natures remained,
and after while she prepared to make her
way home across the mountain top, feeling
as though she were another woman. But
still she did not CO. but lay there with closed
ewes and drank Of this new intoxicating wine
So absorbed was she that she did not notice
that the birds had ceased to call, and that the
eagle bad fled away for shelter. She was not
aware Of the great and solemn hush that had
taken the place Of the merry voice Of beast
and bird, and preceded the breaking Of the
gathered storm.
At last as she rose to 60 she opened her dark
eyes, which had been for the most part shut
while this great change was passing over her,
and with natural impulse turned to look
once more OH the place where her happiness
had found her, and then sank down again
with little exclamation. Where was the
light and the glory and all the happiness OF
the life that moved and grew around hera
Gone, and in its place darkness and the ris-
ing mist and deep and ominous shadows. As
she lay and thought, the sun had sunk behind
the hill and left tho great gulf nearly dark,
and, as is common in South Africa, the
heavy storm cloud had crept across the blue
sky and sealed up the light from above. A
drear wind came moaning up the gorge from
the plains beyond; the heavy rain drops be-
gan to fall one by one; the lightning flickered
fitfully in the belly Of the advancing cloud.
The storm that John had feared was upon
her
Then came dreadful hush. jess had re-
covered herself by now, and, knowing what
to expect, snatched up her sketching block
and hurried into the shelter Of little cave
followed by water in the side OF the cliff.
And then with rush Of ice cold air the tenn
pest burst. Down came the rain in sheet;
and then flash upon flash cleaning flercely
through the vapor laden air, and roar upon
roar echoing in the rocky cavities III volumes
of fearful sound. Then another pause and
space of utter silence, followed by blaze Of
light that dazed and blinded her, and sud-
denly Que of the piled up columns to her left
swayed to End fro like poplar in breeze,
and fell headlong with crash that almost
matered the cracking Of the thunder over
head and the shrieking Of the balloons scared
from their crannes in the cliff. Through it
jess. scared and wet to the skin, managed to
climb up the natural steps, now made almost
impossible by the prevailing gloom and the
rush of the water from the table top Of the
mountain, and so on across the sodden plain,
down tho rocky path on the farther side, past
the little walled III cemetery, with its four
red guns planted at its corners, IN which
stranger who had died at Moofontein lay
buried, and so, just as the darkness OF the
wet night came down like cloud, home at
last. At tue back door stood her old uncle
with lantern.
as that you, Jess" he called out in his
stentorian tones. Lord! what sight!" as
she emerged, her sodden dress clinging to her
slight form, her hands bleeding with Chamber
ING over lhe rocks, her curling hair, which
had broken loose, hanging down her back and
half covering her face.
"Lord, what IL sightw he CALCULATED again.
"Why, Jess, where have you been! Capt.
Mel has gone out to look for you with the
Kaffils"
~ have been sketching in Leuw Kloof, and
got caught in the Storm There, uncle, let
me pass, want to get these wet things off.
It. is a bitter night" and Off she ran to her
room, leaving long trail OF water Dehlnd
her as she pissed. The old man entered the
house, shut the door and blew out the Ian
tern.
"Now, what is it she reminds ME OFF, he
said aloud, as he groped his way down the
passage to the sitting room. "Ah, know,
that night when she first came here out OF the
rain leading Bessie by the hand. What can
the girl have been thinking Of, not to see the
thunder coming up! She ought to know the
signs of the weather here by now. Dreaming,
| suppose, dreaming. She's all odd woman,
jess, very Perhaps he did not quite know
how accurate his guess was ana now rue
the conclusion he drew from it. Certainly
she had been dreaming, and she was an odd
woman.
Meanwhile Jess was rapidly changing hcr
clothes and removing the traces of her stru9'
Gle with the elements. But Of that othof
struggle that she had gone through she could
not remove the traces They and the love
that arose from it would endure as long US
she endured. 1t was her former self that had
been cast off in it and that now lay behind
her, an empty and meaningless thing like the
shapeless pile Of garments 1t was all very
strange. So he had gone to look for her, and
had not found her. She was glad that he
had gone. 1t made her happy to think OF
him searching and calling in the wet and the
night. She was only a woman, and it was
natural that she should feel thus. BY and by
he would come back and find her clothed and
in her right mind and ready to greet him.
She was glad that he had not seen her, wet,
dishevelled, and shapeless. A woman looks
SO unpleasant like that 1t might have turned
him against her. Men like women to look
nice and clean and pretty. They gave her an